Troy Taylor reveals what he has learned about Stanford

Long-time Stanford coach David Shaw resigned abruptly in November, leaving the Cardinal with a new football coach to hire. To that end, Stanford went and plucked Sacramento State coach Troy Taylor.

Taylor has spent the last several months adjusting to his new gig, which has had plenty of perks.

“I think when you say ‘Stanford’, and you do this in recruiting, sometimes you can be a little bit blown out of the water or just be intimidated or think it brings a certain presence or mannerisms or whatnot,” Taylor explained. “Then what you find when you get there is what makes Stanford incredible is the people and how kind they are, how they want you to be successful.”

The job Taylor did at Sacramento State was pretty remarkable. He took over a team that went just 2-8 in 2018 and promptly engineered a nine-win season in 2019.

Sacramento State had never won an FCS playoff game in program history before Taylor and his squad went and did it in 2022. Taylor compiled a 30-8 mark at Sacramento State in four seasons.

Whether he can have the same kind of success at Stanford remains to be seen.

But one thing Taylor seems pretty sure about is that it won’t be for lack of support if he can’t. He raved about the Stanford community and its role in helping him transition quickly into the head coaching job.

“Dr. Condoleezza Rice is on campus, the kindness and intelligence she brings,” Taylor said. “A guy like Andrew Luck, who just finished up graduate school is on campus. You meet the people that you’ve kind of admired from a distance, you find out some of their best qualities are kindness, empathy, them wanting you to be successful. That was a very pleasant surprise.”

Taylor became the 35th coach in Stanford’s history, taking over after Shaw led the program for the previous 12 years.

“I am thrilled to be the new head football coach at Stanford University,” Taylor said in a press release when he was hired. “The opportunity to lead the finest student-athletes in the country is truly a dream come true, and I would like to thank President Tessier-Lavigne, Provost Drell and Bernard Muir. I believe that Stanford Football is perfectly positioned to become champions on the football field while maintaining our world-class reputation for academic excellence.”